What can cause me to feel like my dreams are just me thinking?

Posted by emily @emilystewart30, Jan 3 10:14pm

What can cause me to feel like my dreams are just me thinking, and like I don’t think I’m fully asleep but I’m dreaming?

Since around June/July last year, I’ve felt like my dreams are just me thinking instead of being in a deep sleep. Around that time, I was planning to go on a vacation but was also stressed. There were circumstances in life causing stress too, and I don’t know if that’s affected this. I’m sleeping through the nights and don’t really wake up often throughout the night, but I feel like once I enter rem sleep or when I start dreaming it’s like my mind is active and I’m not in a deep sleep.

I’ve had other health issues that might’ve started around that time, like a feeling of fullness right below my chest.
Before summer last year and in summer, I had/have bad habits before bed. I’d be on my phone right until I feel asleep, and if I woke up throughout the night I’d check my phone or play games.

In fall last year I started feeling worse physically, and have had a feeling of sharp pain either in my chest or right below it at times. Sometimes I’ve been worried to fall asleep and go into a deep sleep because I’m not sure what would happen. I wonder if I’m having trouble sleeping because I don’t feel right physically, and I’m concerned about it. Sometimes I’ve woken up and felt like I needed to cough or did cough during my sleep, but I don’t wake up grasping for air or cough most of the time.

I don’t really have trouble falling asleep though, and it seems like for the first part or majority of the night I’m sleeping decently. I notice the problem most of the time when I’m dreaming and in the morning before starting the day. Sometimes I wake up feeling tired, and like I’ve been thinking instead of dreaming.

People have recommended to avoid blue light and possibly being on my phone before bed, but I’ve been on my phone before bed for many years and haven’t had this problem.

I’ve thought about getting an app to track my sleep, or possibly using a watch to track it.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Sleep Health Support Group.

turandot | @turandot | Jan 5 4:33pm

I don’t think you were asleep but actually thinking. You must turn off all electronic devices at least one hour before bed. Get them out of the bedroom. Sleep specialists can have you do an at-home study to see what’s going on. But NO ELECTRONIC DEVICES IN THE BEDROOM AT ALL! You developed a sensitivity.

emily | @emilystewart30 | Jan 6 7:23am

In reply to @turandot "I don’t think you were asleep but actually thinking. You must turn off all electronic devices..." + (show)

Could I have been thinking but not hear things going on around me? Sometimes I wonder if I’m sleeping because I don’t hear things going on around me, but it doesn’t seem like I’m fully asleep.
I thought about trying to track my sleep on a watch or an app, and see if it shows if I’m awake

gussie | @gussie | Jan 6 11:03am

For the past 15 years I fall asleep without any problems but dream all night during sleep. Sometimes I have two or three dreams. I wake up more tired then when I went to sleep. The dreams are very vivid.

dedhambeth | @dedhambeth | Jan 7 5:07am

In reply to @emilystewart30 "Could I have been thinking but not hear things going on around me? Sometimes I wonder..." + (show)

There is a thread in here about lucid dreaming, I think? There are others out there. I am one.

emily | @emilystewart30 | 12 hours ago

In reply to @dedhambeth "There is a thread in here about lucid dreaming, I think? There are others out there...." + (show)

Sometimes I’ve wondered if it’s lucid dreaming, but it doesn’t really seem like it. It could be though. My “dreams” feel more like just my thoughts sometimes than actual dreams.